1974 - MSc - Chemistry Professor and George A. and Judith A. Olah @ Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Scientific Co-Director, Department of Chemistry, Univ
Dr. G. K. Surya Prakash is currently Professor and holder of the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC). He is also the Scientific Co-Director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute at USC.
Dr. Surya Prakash received his M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from IIT Madras in 1974. He joined the Noble Laureate Professor George Olah’s group at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio to pursue doctoral work. He moved with Professor Olah to the University of Southern California in 1977 to help establish the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and obtained his Ph.D. in physical-organic chemistry at USC in 1978.
Dr. Surya Prakash’s research interests are in the area of Synthetic Organic, Mechanistic and Hydrocarbon Chemistry. He has made many fundamental contributions in these areas. His pioneering work developing new ways to add fluorine to organic compounds has been critical to the boom in fluorinated molecules over the last few decades. He is a co-inventor of the proton exchange membrane based direct oxidation methanol fuel cell.
He has over 550 publications and 21 patents to his credit. He is one of the top 10 cited Chemists of Indian origin with over 7800 citations. He has also co-authored or edited 8 books. His latest book co-authored with G. A. Olah and A. Goeppert titled “Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy” has been widely recognized. He has served as a member of the editorial board of a number of Chemistry journals. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He the recipient of a number of awards including the USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship (2000), two American Chemical Society National Awards (2004 and 2006), and Tolman Medal (2006) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Chemistry.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of Chemistry, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer on him this award.
